REST API Development · Module 10 of 10

Performance and best practices

Make APIs fast, reliable and easy to evolve.

📖 Key ideas

Cache responses with Cache-Control and ETags.
Compress responses (gzip, brotli).
Use timeouts, retries with backoff and circuit breakers when calling other services.
Log with request IDs and monitor errors and latency.
Deprecate old versions with notice instead of breaking clients.

💡 Real-life example: Caching is keeping popular snacks at the counter instead of fetching from the godown every time.

ETagVersion tag for caching responses

Cache-ControlHeader controlling caching

Exponential backoffWaiting longer between retries

Request IDUnique id to trace a request